Michigan's creepiest urban legend, according to Thrillist

Thrillist published a list of the creepiest urban legends in every state. Michigan has a ton of ghost stories from across the state. But here's what Thrillist deemed to be the scariest.

Michigan: Hell's Bridge

Why it's creepy: The Nain Rouge and Dogmen? They’ve got nothing on the tale of Elias Friske, a deranged old preacher who, according to blood-curdling lore, pied-pipered a group of tethered children into the woods near what is now Algoma Township. He slaughtered them one by one, casting them into Cedar Creek before being caught by their parents and hanged, but not before saying he was possessed by demons. In its current form, Hell’s Bridge is a creaky, narrow metal footbridge in the middle of the woods, where those brave enough to cross at night claim to hear the voices and screams of children, and are sometimes greeted by a black figure with glowing eyes as they traverse it.

Where it came from: There is no record of an Elias Friske in the area, though there was a prominent Friske family beginning in the 1910s. Still, despite the lack of hard facts, anyone who’s visited the bridge will attest that there’s something out there, and it usually makes its presence known as you’re teetering on a shaky metal bridge in the moonlight.